City Council Takes Steps For the City to Become ADA Complaint

The Dixon City Council made some strides last night in moving the city towards compliancy with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The council voted on two agenda items – one that will have the city enter into a contact with an ADA consultant who will prepare a citywide ADA Transition Plan; the other will repair the sidewalks along 7^th Street and make them safer for people with disabilities.

Last night, the council voted to have the city enter into an agreement with Bruce Monighan, of the firm Accessibility Design Associates, who will look at all city-owned properties and also scrutinize each city intersection to make sure that sidewalk ramps and curb cuts are ADA compliant.

The contracted amount shall not exceed $27,900. The city must be in compliance of new revisions of the federal ADA by May 15, 2011. In 1999, the city contracted Monighan to make a transition plan for the city. Monighan in turn examined complaints made by Citizens Acting for the Rights of the Disabled (CARD) and evaluated the city for ADA compliancy said David Dowswell, the city’s community development director.

“What he suggested at the time is that we take a proactive approach,” Dowswell told the council.

But the federal ADA has been revised and several of the city’s properties and sidewalks may no longer be compliant. Back in 1999, the city had fixed the majority of issues that Monighan found, Dowswell said. Some of the items were not made ADA compliant however, and Monighan will include those in the new Transition Plan.

During the public comment section of the meeting, a CARD member told the council that he wanted CARD to be able to work with Monighan once he started on the plan. Dowswell told the council that there was money in the budget to work with the advocate groups such as CARD.

“So we do fully intent to include CARD in the preparation of this document (Transition Plan),” he said.

The vote to enter into contract with Monighan passed unanimously, with City Councilman Rick Fuller not present to vote.

 The city council also voted unanimously on a Consent Calendar item that will fix the sidewalks along 7^th Street.

“We chose this area because it’s the worst area … and we have gotten several complaints as far as hazards,” said Christina Castro, junior engineer in the city’s Engineering Department.

Dubbed the 7^th Street Sidewalk Project, the work will encompass South 7^th Street between East A Street and South 8^th Street, just east of Hall Park. The work consists of creating an accessible pathway on the west side of 7^th street, repairing the most damaged areas of PCC concrete sidewalk, curb and gutter on the east side of 7^th street and reconstructing the two north curb ramps at the intersection of 7^th Street and 8^th Street according to a staff report.

The cost of the project is $96,000 and will be paid for by the Gas Tax Fund Budget.